Metals up on LME but stronger pound doesn’t help

The price of metals continues to rise on the LME, but there is still nervousness in the market.

Over the weekend, President Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Merkel of Germany met and agreed a plan to recapitalise European banks and solve the Greek debt crisis. The problem is that they haven’t told anyone what it is yet, which has added to the uncertainty.

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Chinese buyers will have re-entered the market today after a week-long holiday, but it is too early to work out what impact this will have on the LME.

The sterling value of metals on the LME has also dropped as the pound strengthened against the dollar. The official LME exchange rate was 1.5536 on Friday compared to 1.5302 on Thursday.

Copper was up to $7,277 (£4,684) on Friday from $7,120 (£4,653) on Thursday.

While aluminium increased to $2,212 on Friday from Thursday’s $2,202, the sterling value actually dropped to £1,424 on Friday from £1,439 the day before. Alloy was up to $2,200 (£1,416) on Friday from Thursday’s $2,140 (£1,399).

Lead increased to $1,931 on Friday from $1,924 a day earlier but dropped to £1,243 due to the stronger pound from Thursday’s £1,257. Nickel fell to $18,750 (£12,069) on Friday compared to $18,775 (£12,270) the day before.

Tin increased to $22,675 (£14,595) from Thursday’s $22,125 (£14,459). Zinc edged up to $1,869 on Friday from $1,865 a day earlier, but this translated to a drop in sterling from $1,219 on Thursday to $1,203 on Friday.